The Port Washington Breakwater Light is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

built in 1935 at the entrance to the

Port Washington, Wisconsin Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore east of Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area 27 miles north of the City of Mil ...

harbor on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. The second tower at this location, it remains an active

aid to navigation In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2018.

History

With the dredging of the harbor in the 1870s and the extension of the piers bracketing it, the need was felt for a light to guide ships into the harbor entrance, as the existing lighthouse high above the water did no more than indicate the location of the town. Accordingly, a short wooden tower was constructed at the end of the north pier, equipped with a fourth-order Fresnel lens. This light supplanted the older lighthouse in 1903, but the keepers of the newer light continued to live in the latter, as no dwelling was provided on the pier. The beacon itself was automated in 1924 but the fog signal continued in manual operation. In 1930 the Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company decided to build a $30 million steam-electric power plant south of the old shipping channel. That plant required a larger harbor to land ships carrying coal. In 1931 funds were provided to improve the harbor under the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

; Construction was protracted and the new breakwaters took three years to complete. As an addendum to this project a new light was constructed, identical to that built at the same time at the

Indiana Harbor East Breakwater Light The Indiana Harbor East Breakwater Light is an active aid to navigation that marks the end of a breakwater on the east side of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal where it enters Lake Michigan. History According to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, M ...

and a design at several other sites in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. This light, constructed of steel plates in an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, stood on an open concrete platform which in turn perched at the end of the breakwater forming the northern limit of the harbor. The fourth order lens was retained. As with its predecessor, no provision was made to house the fog signal's keepers, and they continued to live in the old keeper's dwelling in town. Funds for the light were appropriated in 1934 and first light came the following year. Full automation came late to this light. The old lens and its lantern were removed at an undetermined date, but keepers continued to operate the fog signal manually until 1975. The light continues in use, with a second but much shorter tower standing on the southern breakwater to mark the other side of the entrance.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1889 Houses completed in 1889 Lighthouses completed in 1903 Buildings and structures in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Lighthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin 1889 establishments in Wisconsin Works Progress Administration in Wisconsin